Monday, February 4, 2013

A Little Finish and a BIG Start

Before we get rolling I want to thank everyone for your sweet and gracious comments on my last post. This is precisely why I love blogland so much :)

My hand has been steadily getting better but with some off days. However I have been crafting it up since I got home Friday and managed to put in some serious stitching time on Poinsettia Place by CCN.

Forgive the wrinkly fabric. I'm hesitant to iron it out just yet because of the button and because it'll have to go into storage until I have stitched the entire series (which should be finished ohhhhh in another 10-11 months).

I had such fun stitching this one up. I'd even say I liked it better than Santa's house. I just think the design is beautiful along with the specialty floss that was called for. The Shutter Green that you can see on the front of the house is my absolute favourite and I'm very happy to have LOTS left over ;)

Although you can't really see it, the fabric is opalescent which gives the piece a very festive feel. I like to think of the sparkle as mini snowflakes... but I just might be crazy haha. I also positioned the Cardinal so that its beak was tilted skywards a bit, as if it was singing or something. I really like this rather than just popping on the button straight. I like to think it gives it a little bit of character.

I also started LHN's "Old Nantucket" over the weekend. I've had this chart with fabric and floss all kitted up and ready to go for some time now so it's needless to say I was PUMPED to hall it out of the 'to-do' pile.

But unbeknownst to me there were some issues I'd have to sort out first. When I was taking stock of all my floss I noticed that I only had one skein of Blue floss. "That's weird" I thought to myself. You see by the looks of the model picture much of the chart seems to be stitched in blue (the house and the ocean primarily).

This is the model picture of the chart.

I loved the blue grey!

WELL - first off the house colour is not that beautiful pale blue you see in the model picture. More accuratly it's a pebble colour. As in a dank grey purple. I even looked at the DMC conversion provided with the chart and this is what the house colour is actually suppose to be. I was fine to leave this be for the time being and would figure out the house colour later... So I get set to stitch the ocean... SURPRISE another crazy colour... The chart calls for the ocean to be stitched in Barrel Cactus!!! WHAT-THE???? So I had to absolutely check what LHN was saying about this colour 'weirdness'. Apparently something went awry with the photo taking and that the model was actually stitched in the colours given in the chart... When I read this I immediately thought 'Yup that's NOT going to happen'. You see I had fallen in love the model picture... I also find this camera mishap argument to be a little bit hard to believe. Now mind you, I know how finicky camera's are when it comes to displaying the true colour of things so I know it can happen. AND on close inspection of the model picture, the house colour does look a little wonky with hints of the pebble colour it 'should have been.

Still not convinced about the ocean colour, I checked the DMC conversion once again on the chart and the ocean should actually be stitched in 927/926. You can see the difference between the two flosses below.

Yup I'd say that's a pretty big colour difference, wouldn't you? So I caved and headed out to Michaels - the only craft store in town - SLIM PICKIN's for Local Needle shops here people! I ended up picking out DMC 926 for the ocean and may go with 927 (or 928) for the house.

SO after all this, I finally started this project at 8pm last night. I have to say the large-ness of this piece has thrown me for a loop. The chart is so small it's hard to believe that it's going to take up a full piece of 18x16!!! It never dawned on me that it would ever have been that large. But I'm sooo excited to get going and have completely over come my initial disappointment.

Oh and I should add that by heading out to Michael's yesterday I stumbled upon some Pom Pom yarn that was on sale for more than half off!!! Not being able to deny a good deal I ended up with several rolls of the stuff and even made a little start on a scarf :)

Oh it is ever so glorious to touch. I just want to bury my face into these little pom poms and never come up!

Nice job on the house finish! The little bird just sets it off right! What a shame with all the troubles with color on the new start. Somehow I would feel deceived if the picture was that far wrong from the actual...

I have experienced the same thing on some other projects but not as noticeable as this one. Good for you making the changes. I love your colors you are using. Looks Fantastic. Your cottage looks beautiful. Great job.love Annette

Great finish on Poinsentia Cottage. I looked at your chart of Nantucket and fell in love with the colours, then read the rest of your post and my thoughts were the same as you. So glad you went with your choice of colours.

Cute finish!! You are not the first person that has mentioned the color problem with the Nantucket piece. I always change the colors if they are different than the photo, as the photo is always what catches my eye!

Love your Santa's Village finish and the cardinal tweeting up to the snowflaked sky is perfect!! Beautiful new start and glad that you are happy with it. We have slim pickings for needlecraft stores here in Vancouver too. Maybe one day I'll open my own!

Yes, I'm with you on the two houses of the Santa's Village - I loved to see Santa's House but I also love the Poinsettia House even more. It's so sweet and cozy.Your new project looks gorgeous. And I think I would have changed the colours as well. No, I'm absolutely sure that I would have changed them. Every once in while I'm doing this when I like the colour on the photo better than the colour number given on the chart.

Love your Santa's Village finish! I know I'm going to enjoy seeing the whole series. It looks like such a fun stitch.I know exactly what you're feeling with the LHN. So many times I've fallen in love with the chart picture and the floss colours are nowhere near what is pictured. It's so disappointing! I don't know if it's the lighting or different dye lots but sometimes the colours are waaaay off! I just try to find a similar colour in my stash that compares to the pic and go with that. I hope it all works out for you.

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About Me

"Life is an opportunity!" Corny saying - check! Undeniably true saying - double check! I live by these words. I'm certainly not what you'd call a pessimist and generally strive for the moon rather than for what's sitting right in front of me.
I usually have my hands into something rather than nothing - meaning putting my time into my rediscovered love for cross stitching, whipping up something in the kitchen, or planning my next travel adventure.
This blog will chronicle my little pleasures and my zest for life - anything and EVERYTHING is game!